Great news! Community Board 9 unanimously approved our “Wonderful Woodhaven Street Festival 2013,” this year to be held on Sunday, October 20, from noon to 6 p.m., from 80th Street to Woodhaven Blvd on Woodhaven’s Jamaica Avenue.

The GWDC would like to thank Community Board 9, which covers Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, Ozone Park and Kew Gardens, for their vote and support. So mark your calendar for October 20, and keep good thoughts that we again have a sunny warm day.

More dates to mark on your calendar: The Woodhaven Business Improvement District Bunny will be here on Saturday, March 23. On this day, the Fluffy Bunny (a costume from our own Rubies Costumes, which started in Woodhaven, but is now located in its own building on a full block named for them in Richmond Hill) will take free pictures with the young and young at heart in our Forest Parkway Plaza area off Jamaica Avenue between 1 and 4 p.m.There will also be more activities along our Woodhaven’s Jamaica Avenue, weather permitting. More on this to come.

Also, in May, the Greater Woodhaven Development Corporation will sponsor our “Happiness Is Spring 2013” Dinner Dance. So note these dates and months now.

So, make use of your Woodhaven’s Jamaica Avenue, your “Everthing Avenue,” from Dexter Court to 100th Street. This past week, with the sunny clear winter days shopping is brisk as the weather. Many shoppers of all ages can be spotted going from store to store.

I hope that the new muni-meters are not too much of a problem. They will require a period of adjustment, especially during inclement weather. These muni-meters are being placed throughout the city, with Woodhaven being one of the last communities in Queens to have them installed.

Last year I explained that after every census, the district lines of our community and our elected representatives are changed. In 2012, the lines for our N.Y.S. Senators, N.Y.S. Assembly members and U.S. Congress member were changed for each office.

These new lines and the subsequent election resulted in Honorable Nydia M. Valasquez being our one and only Congresswoman, representing all of Woodhaven, Honorable Joseph P. Addabbo as our N.Y.S. Senator and Honorable Michael Miller as our N.Y.S. Assemblyman.

This year again we faced the redistricting, this time for City Council.These lines have now been finalized and Woodhaven has retained their two original council members, Honorable Elizabeth S. Crowley and Honorable Eric Ulrich, but representing different areas of Woodhaven than they previously covered.

This redistricting has its cons and pros. The con being Woodhaven is once again a “shared” community with two council members, and not unified under only one. But the pro being that these two council members have been our representatives and know our communities. Also, that we retain two votes for our causes in the City Council, not only one.

These Congressional, State State, Assembly and City Council lines will remain in place until after the next census in 10 years, so we will have to live with these new district lines until then.

The GWDC still has Home Improvement Loans available at 5 percent and 2.5 percent interest rates. Please call our office at (718) 805-0202 for more information.

The weather forecasters have advised that February will be “unpredictable” and very snowy. So when you hear of eminent snow, shop your Jamaica Avenue WBID and stock up on all your needs. Through the snow, look forward to our days being lighter longer as of Sunday, March 10, when Daylight Savings time begins and spring beginning March 20.

Remember, fly our American flag from your home or apartments proudly. Please replace them often and fly them above all others. May God bless our leaders, may God bless our armed forces fighting terrorism on foreign shores so that we may be safe here at home, and may God bless our America.